If you believe early patterns shape the long-term picture, the opening five-game stretch of the Yankees' season serves as an example this could get ugly.

Essentially the same bats that got hitting coach Kevin Long fired with a year on a contract remained silent in a ballpark built for hitters until the game was out of reach ...

Since the Yankees didn't hit, pitch, catch or throw the ball with any degree of success, it wasn't hard to ask why the hosts were embarrassed by their blood rivals ... after losing in 19 innings Friday night.

Looking every bit like an exhausted team that had played a marathon the night before, the Yankees got beaten again by Boston Saturday afternoon, a mostly-lifeless 8-4 loss at the Stadium that dropped them to 1-4. ...

The Yankees, who were supposed to be improved defensively, suffered errors by Alex Rodriguez – who was making his debut at first base – John Ryan Murphy and Chase Headley. ...

What might be worse is their anemic offense. No one in the Yankee lineup could do much against a pitcher who was previously known in Yankeeland for his wife's hilarious tweet last season. ...

Thanks to the way they played Saturday afternoon, the Yanks might have another night's sleep wrecked, too.

These first five games for the Yankees could have gone worse. Pinstripes could have been outlawed or Monument Park could have become contaminated or all fans could have received David Ortiz bobblehead dolls.

But aside from that, this has been just about as miserable a five games as could be imagined.

The Yankees have played 55 innings and have led in one.

To date, they can't hit, field or run the bases. Their starting pitching has been, at best, ordinary and their relief has not been as good as advertised. ...

The pinnacle of their season, to date, was being plucky on Friday night to keep coming back late before losing 6-5 to Boston in 19 innings. The Yankees actually played highlights of their big hits before Saturday's game. This is what they are reduced to these days — bragging about positive achievements in losses.

OK, so just take Thursday, in its entirety. Bottle it, replicate it and serve it over the next six months.

Voila! You have perfected the recipe for the 2015 Yankees' nightmare: Bad, boring and overshadowed by their long-suffering neighbors to the southeast. ...

The Yankees began this season as a club that looked decidedly mediocre, and the tiny sample size of one series hasn't altered that view whatsoever. ...

And as it happens, 2015 is the Mets' long-planned target for rising from a six-year slumber and reaffirming relevance. ...

New York hasn't been a Mets town in a very long time. The Yankees, through their own timeline, might wind up as an accomplice in this changing of the guard. Especially if Thursday night proves to be an undesired template.

As they try to avoid a third straight season of missing the playoffs, Joe Girardi's bunch played the Yankees' longest home game ever Friday night into Saturday morning. That they lost the contest, 6-5 in 19 innings to the Red Sox in the inaugural rivalry game of the year, served as yet another negative indicator on a squad filled with them. ...

[T]he Yankees continued a young trend by going 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and that ultimately cost them, as did the recurring trend of base running ineptitude. Gardner got caught stealing second base in the eighth, and he got picked off first base in the 17th. ...

The Yankees displayed plenty of fight on this night into morning, and maybe this game can register positively down the line. More likely, though, it will go down as the sort of game that characterizes their season: Just not good enough, on the road to the wrong kind of history.